Eight evidences & the six philosophies

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> > 6) The followers of the Puranas accept sense perception, logic, words,

> > analogies, inference and the impossibility of none existence and tradition

> > (aihitya) and equivalence (sambhava) as well.

> Can anyone explain what kind of evidence is the impossibility of none

> existance. Can you give any example? Ys Vrajendra Kumaara das

 

>From the "Six Systems of Vedic Philosophy" files, under Vaisesika:

 

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The Category of Nonexistence--Abhava

 

Abhava, nonexistence, the seventh and last category of reality is negative in

contrast to the first six categories, which are positive. Nonexistence is not

found in any of the six positive categories, and yet according to Vaisesika

philosophy nonexistence exists, just as, for instance, space and direction do.

To illustrate: How does one know that there is no chair in a room? Looking

into the room, one can feel as sure of the nonexistence of the chair as of the

existence of the carpet or of the people. Therefore, nonexistence also exists

as such.

 

There are two kinds of nonexistence: the absence of something in something

else (samsargabhava), and mutual nonexistence (anyonyabhava). The absence of

something in something else is of three kinds: antecedent nonexistence

(pragbhava), the nonexistence of a thing after its destruction

(pradhvamsabhava), and absolute nonexistence (atyantabhava). Antecedent

nonexistence refers to the nonexistence of a thing prior to its creation. For

example, in the sentence, `A book will be written using this paper', the book

is nonexistent in the paper. This type of nonexistence does not have a

beginning, but it does have an end. The book never existed before it was

written; therefore, there is a beginningless nonexistence of the book. But

when it does come to be written, its previous nonexistence will come to an

end. In direct contrast to antecedent nonexistence, the nonexistence of a

thing after its destruction has a beginning but does not have an end. For

instance, when a jar is broken into pieces, then there is nonexistence of that

jar. The nonexistence of the jar begins with its destruction, but this

nonexistence cannot be ended in any way, because the same jar cannot be

brought back into existence.

 

The type of nonexistence that does not belong to a particular time and space

but is in all times is called absolute nonexistence. This type of nonexistence

is neither subject to origin nor to end. It is both beginning less and

endless. Examples are the nonexistence of the son of a barren couple or the

nonexistence of color in the air.

 

Mutual nonexistence (anyonyabhava), the second of the two major divisions of

nonexistence, is the difference of one thing from another. When one thing is

different from another, they mutually exclude each other, and there is the

nonexistence of either as the other. For example, a pen is different from a

book, so there is nonexistence of the book in the pen and of the pen in the

book.